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UN to separate al-Qaeda-Taliban link

Move expected to kickstart peace talks by offering an incentive for Taliban members to renounce al-Qaeda.

17 Jun 2011 10:07 GMT

For more than 12 years, the United Nations has imposed joint sanctions against the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

Both groups are seen by some as allies and accomplices in a war against the West.

There are currently 138 people associated with the Taliban and 254 others associated with al-Qaeda on the UN's sanction list.

These individuals cannot travel - or hold assets - outside of Afghanistan and as it currently stands, the Afghan government has little say in who is put on or taken off this list.

But as Al Jazeera's Kristen Saloomey reports from New York, the US prepares to begin pulling out its forces, Washington and its allies want the UN to separate the link between the two groups.

Analysts say it will kickstart peace talks in Afghanistan by offering an incentive for Taliban members to renounce al-Qaeda.

But Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Peshawar, said that the Taliban has said that there "will be no talks until there is a withdrawal from Afghan territory".

"It will be interesting to see if the UN Security Council is able to lift the 12-year-old sanctions between the two, [and] after the killing of Osama bin Laden and the fact that the Americans are quite convinced that Afghanistan is no longer al-Qaeda central ... so it will be important to see how this is received by the Afghan Taliban."